Myrtle Beech

About

A Gondwanan southern beech that dominates cool temperate rainforest gullies of southern Victoria and Tasmania. In Victoria it grows in the deep, moist soils of the Central Highlands, Strzelecki Ranges, Wilsons Promontory and the Otway Ranges, where Great Otway National Park protects some of its best mainland stands.

How to spot it

An evergreen tree with small, dark green, triangular, toothed leaves — new growth flushes brilliant red, pink or orange in spring. Bark is rough and often moss-covered, and old specimens form a gnarled, closed rainforest canopy in sheltered fern gullies.

Found in

• Great Otway National Park